SQL Server 2012? No Fooling
Microsoft chose an odd time to ship SQL Server 2012: April Fools' Day! But this puppy is no joke.
There are two bits of good news: First, the software is generally available. Second, you can download a free eval good for six months. That sounds like plenty of time to see if this is worth the dough.
The biggest change involves pricing, and the story is a bit complex. Microsoft is moving from charging per processor to per core. In short, if you have four cores per processor and are buying the Standard edition you may break even -- but if you have more than four cores per processor and are buying the Enterprise edition, it may cost you substantially more to upgrade.
I mentioned this in a newsletter or two ago. One reader with small servers saw huge savings and bowed before the Microsoft accounting gods. Another with beefy boxes is all set to move to just about any other database.
Have you run the per-core numbers? What does your math say? You tell me at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on 04/04/2012 at 1:19 PM